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MEANING OF THE ELECTIONS OF 18G2, 



SPEECH 



W«Bt. Eea. Htet. Sbo. 



HON. S. S. COX, OF OHIO. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 15, 1862. 



iThe House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and hav- 
ng under consideration the President's Message, Mr. COX said: 

I Ma. Chairman: It has been a custom in all civilized countries and a part of the Consti- 
I ution of all free countries, for the administration to yield to the popular will, whenever 
it is clearly ascertained. In England, when the Ministry is voted down, they surrender 
meir port folios to the Queen. Even in parliament, which is but an imperfect represen- 
. tative of the British people, no Minister, however popular, can withstand the sentiment 
of the Commons. He must resign or rule under the scorn of the nation. In 1832, even 
the Duke of Wellington was not "iron" enough to resist the popular cry of "Reform." 
In 1816, when Cobden and Bright on the hustings, Villiers in the House, and Elliott in 
song, ra'sed the cry of Repeal of the Corn laws and cheap bread for the people, the 
landed aristocracy, who had the power, crumbled before the silent, solvent power of the 
popular voice. Sir Robert Peel, the greatest statesman since Chatham, bowed to the de- 
cree. The nation yet honors him for this magnanimous statesmanship. Later during 
the Crimean war, its gross mismanagement shown up by an untrammelled press, drove an 
incompetent Ministry from power, by a vote of the Commons. In Prussia, in France, and 
even in Austria, the sovereign and his advisers do not fail to conciliate the public mind, 
by some graces of obedience. But here, sir. in this boasted free country, when our great 
States have pronounced against this Congress, and against the emancipation and other 
schemes here hatched, we have mockery, defiance and persistency in wrong doing. The 
people have raised their voice against irresponsible arrests ; this House, on its first day, 
Totes down my resolutions, drawn in the language of every Bill of Rights in American, 
and refuse inquiry into these outrages upon the citizen. The people have condemned 
that worst relic of the worst times of French tyranny, the Icttres de cachet ; yet Ibis 
House, with indecorous hurry, lash through a bill of indemnity, which is to confiscate all 
the rights and remedy of the outraged citizen — a bill, sir, which, if plead by a minion of 
power, the Courts will laugh to scorn. The people have condemned the edict of eman- 
cipation — an edict which Mr. Seward, on the 10th of March last, in a letter to Mr. Adams, 
declared "would reinvigorate the declining insurrection in every part of the South;*' 
yet we have the Presidential Message, which proposes to adhere to the condemned proc- 
lamation ; and in addition thereto proposes a compensated system of emancipation, run- 
ning to the end of the century. The people desired the war to be continued, on one line 
of policy, declared by us last July a year, for the Constitution and the Union ; but this 
contumacious assembly are determined to force it from that line, or abandon the Union. 
My colleague [Mr. Hutchins] spoke the other day for the majority here, and gloried in 
that radicalism which would "reinvigorate the rebellion." I think the Irish orator had my 
colleague in his eye, when he spoke of the "genius of universal emancipation." He glories 
in'being a radical because he goes to the root. I propose to tap that root for a few moments. 
His speech is not upon a new theme : nor is it freshly handled. Its point is its audacious 
disregard of the sentiment of his own State and of the North. He is wiser than the 
"Elders" of the Republic, whom he stigmatizes: for they found never — what he has 
learned from other and recent sources, that Slavery and freedom are incompatible in our 
system. He pretends that the real cause of the rebellion lies in this irreconcilable an- 
tagonism. He forgets that seventy-five years of our history disprove his fallacies. He 
'urges such antagonism for military reasons; when the truth is, his party got power by 



t<fs6 
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propagating this very heresy of hate. The scheme of exterminating slavery as a was 

an afterthought. He claims moreover the right under the Constitution to free 

all the slaves, because slavery is incompatible with that clause which guarantees to each) 

. republican fosm of government. He grows wiser than the "Elders," who framed 

the Constitution, and who lived in Slave Slates when it was made. He thinks the Con> 

\-cutiva can unmake the State governments and make new governments 

i Smith when subjugated. He thus becomes as much of a Disunionist and traitor 

as 1 >a\ is. My colleague reproves the President for his delusion ; because he hopes for re- 

lief by compensated emancipation in 1900. In this, the daring radicalism of my col-., 

• outstrips even that of the Administration. He favors a " Union as it will be, ■ 
slavery is eradicated,'' and that makes him a radical. He says radicalism goes tc 
, ooi So it does. So the Savans whom Gulliver found, employed the hog to do plotii 
ing, to save the wear and tear of honest agriculture. He would have us root out sla 
or die. Indeed, in picturing our "armies penetrating the territory of the rebel 
carrying with them this military order of freedom inscribed upon their banner"- 
wou'ld have his halting friends like the President, "dare" more; he quotes the lang; 
of Mil ■uhi-au, the revolutionist, urging no revolt — no revolt, by halves — no timidit} i 
hesitation from a sense of duty, no sacrifice of passion, no half-way indecision in tr 
and lie exhorts his confederates in abolition that it is better to be resolutely bad tha 
decisively honest! This is the language of revolution and the spirit of Satan as Mi i 
pictures him in hell. The quotation of my colleague is felicitous; but it is a relit 
know that his comrades in revolt have not the daring of Davis, the manliness of Miral I 
or the intellect of Satan. 

He indulge? in comparisons between this radicalism, which he espouses, and that 
servatism whieh is now organized under the Democratic name. 

The word conservative is not the name of a party. It is an element now domi: j 
among the people. It represents the principle of repose and strength ; the ides 
order" and law. It defends the Constitution. It would restore the Union. When ) 
gentleman likens it to the Israelites who hankered for the slavery of Egypt; whei 
says that those who prefer the Union as it was, are like the Tories of the Revolul 
when he likens them to the Scribes and Pharisees, who preferred the doctrines ■ 
elders, he perpetrates superficial nonsense. To stigmatize those who are in favor o\ 
Union of Washington as like the Tories whom Washington fought is the silliest ba 
of :; mediocre poot, whom Hoi'.ic? says gods, men, and booksellers despise. To 1 ! 
the conservative voice just uttered at our elections to the lust of the Israelites for 
fieshpots of Egypt has not the dignity of a schoolgirl's rhapsody. The simile whic ' 
drew between" the Scribes and Pharisees, and those who reverence the Constitutioi 
cause it is the work of the " elders," smacks of a supercilious egotism which it is 
to answer. There are no such analogies between the parties of the day. No com] 
sons are needed to show the differences between the radicalism which uproot 
destroy, and the conservatism which would guard to save. 1 would like to know 
difference in spirit between the radicalism of secession, which contemned the consii u 
tional majority and set up for itself on slavery principles, and the radicalism whicl 
now defies the people's .will to set up for itself on anti-slavery ideas. 

This radical party of the gentleman has been in power 651 days — since the 4th o 
March, 1801, to the present time. What is the result? I do not now ask who hai 
caused this result ; but what is our condition under the agents selected at Chicago bj 
a sectional organization, acting with those of similar radical views in the South? 

1st. A confederation of 33 States, to which appurtenant were. 7 Territories, has beei 
torn into two parts, under severed and belligerent governments. 

2d. From a state of concord the people of these States have been made hostile ; an< 
one-half of the people of these States, capable under the law of bearing arms, hay 
become consumers instead of peaceable producers of wealth. 

3d. That these men, numbering perhaps two millions connected with the armies of tb 
North and South, are costing the people at least $1,000,000 per day, which is not bein| 
replaced ; for all that is spent in war is, by the laws of economy, a loss to those wh<l 
Bpenf] it, as a mere pecuniary transaction, and not counting ultimate and moral results. 

Thai since this Administration came into power there has been lost to this country 
merely as a matter of business, not counting debt and taxes of a national or Stat 
character, at least three hundred millions in the destruction of property, interferenc 
with established business, increase in wages, spoliation of railroads, depots, produce 
corn, wheat, flour, cotton, hay, crops, <fec. 

6th. That the debt of this" country at thi3 time if all the liabilities not liquidated ar 
Included, and not including the eighty millions left by the preceding Administratioi 
amounts at this time to the sum of one thousand millions; and by the 1st of July, 186< 
will, in my judgment, amount to twenty-five hundred millions. The estimates for th 
army alone for the next year, are $700,000,000. 



v 



'hat we have now a system of taxation by tariff which imposes a burden on 
t, to benefit manufacturing in New England, and pays indirectly sixty millions 



Oth. That 
the West, 

into the Treasury and into the pockets of capitalists, and mostly from the consumers, who 
are farmers of the West. ♦ • 

7th. That we have now a system of internal taxation, costing for collection some four 
millions extra, which might have been saved, ai^l levying in one yen; 
interest only on a great national debt, and with an army of newly made office-l 
with exorbitant salaries. 

8th. That within these 861 days, a party has succeeded which proposes, by legislation 
and proclamation, to break down a labor system in eleven States, of four millions of 
negroes who.se industry has been productive hitherto, worth, on or before the tth of 
March, 1801, an average of $500 a piece, being in all- two thousand millions of dollars; 
and when this capital is destroyed, the objects of this peeudo philanthrophy will re- 
main mi hand, North and South, as a mass of dependent and improvident blach b 
for whose care the tax will be almost equal to the war tax, before their condition will 
again be fixed safely and prosperously. 

9th. That within these 651 days, the rights of personal liberty, freedom from arrest 

without process, freedom for press and S] ch and t he right of kabeas^corpua have b 

pended and limited, and, at times, destroyed; and in the place of resurrected and pro- 
mised liberty to four million blacks, we have had the prospect of a buried liberty which 
the past 800 years have awarded to the white Anglo-Saxon race. 

10th. That for the specie currency of a few years ago, we have already in circulation 
millions of depreciated government promises to pay, ranging from $1,000 notes down to 
five cent shinplasters. 

11th. That we have the promise of a bankrupt law at this session, as the wholesale 
result of these commercial derangements. 

. That we have had killed in these 651 days at least 150,000 of the best youth of 
miry on bloody fields of battle, and nearly the same number by sickness in camps 
and hospil 

loth. That by the decisions of the courts, already given as to the laws of this 
CoriiT' ■ legal tender and the confiscation acts — we learn that there is a general 

encroa e department of the government upon the other. 

14th. That the Christian religion has been defiled by its teachers, and civilization set 
back a half century by the demoralization incident to these unhappy events'. 

Thi.-- is the radicalism of my colleague. Conservatism has played the radical so far as 
to uproot this gigantic Upas tree, whose shade poisons the nation's life, it would cover 
over and refresh the exposed roots of the goodly tree, planted by the fathers, that it ma}' 
grow again, and blossom and bear fruit for the children. 

Is it necessary to illustrate the differences between the radicalism and conservatism now 
operating in our politics? I will not go back to Egypt, or Palestine, or even to the 
Revolution. We have in our midst subjects of comparison. The gentlemau from Penn- 
sylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] with an intellect like a demi-god, clamoring for a Dictator, and 
scoffing at the Constitution — infinite in his power of mischief, might well illustrate radi- 
calism, while the gentleman from Kentucky, with a heart as large as his intellect, would 
illustrate the opposite. One defends contractors, palliates peculation, and assaults inves- 
tigatii ; committees. Given the leadership here in this time of peril, he uses it to preach 
a salu< populi, supremo, lex, as of higher sanction than his oath to the Constitution. He 
deals in invective, and talks of being provoked by a constitutional opposition or a modest 
suggestion. He would tear down the fabric of his government to vent his spite on an 
institution about which he has no business. During this session he voted for the dis- 
memberment of Virginia, and gave these radical reasons: 

" F'iv I will not stultify myself by supposing that we have any warrant in the Constitution for thin 
i ilk of restoring thi Union as it was under the (^institu'.'oyfttu it is, is one of the 

ulixit r.'/V v/ v heard repeated until- 1 hare become -tick about it. This Uniofl^Hfcever be restored as 

it was. There are many things which render such an event Impossible. This I'n-iofttshalt never with my 
consent be r< '"■■- d under the Constitution ax it is, with slavery to be protected by //." 

Such language would befit the Richmond Congress. He who utters it, is indeed no 
Conservative. Turn to another in our midst — a man of grey hairs — no counterfeit glory 
upon his head, but the glory of a long, useful, and patriotic career. He comes to us from his 
retirement in Kentucky to represent the people among whom Henry Clay lived and died, 
to counsel us in this our country's trial. He bids us to manifest temperance in the very, 
torrent and tempest of this anti-slavery frenzy. His course may arouse the sneers and 
ire of the radical, lie may be likened to the sensual Israelite, the hypocritical Pharisee, 
or the obsequious tory ; but the people know him as one who would have saved them 
from the war, and who would now lead them to the land of our, promise! His conser- 
vatism would not pull down. It would build up. It abounds not in empty cries of 



humanity about the blacks. It would save this -western world to constitutional freedom 
for tin- white, from the anarchy of the day. It looks forward to the old time, under the 
old flag. It fears to let loose vengeance in the form of atrocious confiscations and cruel 
spoliation of non-combatants and deluded fellow-countrymen. It would give laws to 
war. ll would conserve the home, the State, the institutions of the country — the Re- 
public! It would never heal political grudges by mercenary contracts. It would try 
the traitor Brat and confiscate afterwards. It would* not confiscate without conviction. 
It would observe the law North to punish its breach South. It would guard the Consti- 
tution while putting down its assailants. It does not for months assasinat-e the character 
of our generals because they do not favor radical notions. It would conserve character, 
evt'ii while it would protect the freedom of speech and unlicensed printing. It loves and 
admires the Constitution, made at Independence Hall on the 17th of September, 1787, 
and would echo the close of Story's Commentaries; eslo perpetua ! It makes sacrifices 
to defend it. It votes and speaks against the worthless men who, in the name of a 
higher law and in the name of a military necessity, would destroy it. The difference 
betwten this conservatism and that radicalism is the difference between Hyperion and 
Satyr, Gabriel and Mephistophles; Democracy and Abolition! The people, thank God, 
though late, perceive the gulf which separates these elements of blessing and of woe. 

Yet my colleague would arraign this conservatism as pro-slavery and treasonable; and 
with that irreverence which is not infrequent with his class, he pretends that God isupon 
the side of this radicalism. Why, sir, I speak it all reverently, God himself has been 
called by an abolition Divine, a Democrat. The appellation is true, if Democracy be the 
synonem of conservatism. Providence organizes and conserves. It is a part of his estab- 
lished order. Besides it has been said that the voice of the people is the voice of God. 
Surely these waiters on Providence, should heed the voice of the people, speaking from 
the political sinai. Amidst the thunders and lightnings and thick cloud, and the 
quaking of the mountain, the trumpet has sounded; and yet ye, unlike Jsrael, "have not 
sanctified yourselves, lest the Lord break forth upon ye." The trumpet voice has spo- 
ken : " We are the people who have set you in higH places: 

Thou shalt have no other source of power before you. 

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image of ebony, before which to bow thy- 
self, nor to serve it. [Laughter.] 

Thou shalt not take the name of liberty, in vain ; for thou shalt not be held guiltless 
for such sacrilege upon personal and constitutional freedom. 

Remember the days of October and November, to keep them holy. [Laughter.] . 

Honor the Constitution and the Uniqn, if you would have your days long in the land. 

Thou shalt not kill — in vengeance and in vain. 

Thou shalt not degrade the white race by such intermixtures as emancipation will 
bring. 

Thou shalt not steal, nor suffer the money of the people to be stolen by the army of 
jobbers and contractors. 

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbors, charging them falsely with 
disloyally. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's servants, neither his man servent, nor his maid ser- 
vant, oor anything which is thy neighbor's; nor tax the people for their deliverance. 

Will these commandments be heeded; I fear not. Too many of the other side have 
lost their sense of responsibility by losing their offices. 

Among all my colleagues of the last Congress, upon the other side, but one remains — 
but one — the member from the North-west, [Mr. Ashley,] and he was elected by the 
divisions of the conservative force of the district. As with the children of Israel, the Red 
sea divided and his virtues enabled him to go over dry shod. [Laughter.] My colleague, 
[Mr. Huxohens,] who was so kind as to write my epitaph at the last session, picturing me as 
going down in jLgnLjred "sunset," had not even the approbation of his own party by a 
nomination. JjHkIII allow me, with tender regret, to borrow the apostrophe of the poet 
to WilbeJ'force, flf suitable to his case : 

"Oh, shade of the fallen ! Oh, Genius sublime! 
Great friend of the Nkgro, from Africa's clime; 
Alus! how low he lies! [Laughter.] 
Night suddenly came, and his day was done, 
His sun was set, and another sun 
Illumes the dusky skies." [Laughter.] 

I doubt not, his speech at the last session in favor of the blacks settling where they 

E leased was the reason of his premature setting and settling. He should not complain. 
[e was a bright light of Republicanism in the dark places of Ohio ; but, he must remember 
"that all that's bright must fade." His demise was a civil necessity. The people have said 
to him and his friends — all defeated, I believe, but about a dozen — "Wayward sisters ! de- 



part in peace." [Laughter.] Let them return to private life. It is their destiny. Their po- 
litical graves are dug. Their winding sheets af< prepared. Their gravestones are ready. 
Methinks 1 hear the clods fall upon their coffins at, noon on the coming 4th of .March. 
They should not complain. The earth itself must at last pass away and be rolled up like 
a scroll. Nature, trembling and in flames, will one day give way. Let them not com- 
plain, but bow to the decree of dissolution. None knew them, but to curse them ; none 
named them but to damn. Properly and philogically speaking, they are here aa the rep- 
resentative* of perdition ; for they are lost to us. [Laughter.] Their loss will, however, 
be our gain. Their calling and election not having been made sure, they now seebt in 
the Jittle span allotted' them, to continue those political transgressions, for which they 
areHpndenuied already. My colleague, (Mr. llnciitNs,) lias however, it seems, turned 
practical humanitarian since the elections. I commend him for it. lie is no longer 
a political Mrs. Jellaby, manufacturing here, moral pocket handkerchiefs, for the picka- 
ninnies of Hilton Head; but he has been there, observing how the young African 
learns to shoot in a-b-abs, and how the black brigade learns to shoot in platoons. 
He has, no doubt, observed what the President told the preachers: "that the] eat and 
that was all." Perhaps he might tell us, how many thousands, under this humanitarian 
regime, we have already living at our national festive board, and singing the soiiL r : 

" Old Uncle Sam's the landlord — we eat and drink our fill, 
And the wisdom of the measure is — there's nothing fur the bill." 

The House refused us this information last session ; and since then they have increased 
and scattered over the land, until they number hundreds of thousands; we hear of four 
hundred wagon loads in Mississippi; .several thousand in the district of my friend from 
Illiuois, [Mr. Allkn,] thousands here in the District; and for their sustenance and eleva- 
tion, the overburdened people are to be taxed, while the families of white soldiers clamor 
for food in our cities. The House this afternoon voted down the resolution of inquiry of 
my friend from Maryland, [Mr. Calvert,] as to the cost of the contraband business in 
Carolina. I assert here that the report of the quartermaster at Beaufort, South Carolina, 
will show that for the month of September four general Buperintendanta received $150 
per month, and sixty-four other superintendants received $50 per month, for taking care 
of ninety-three negroes! This report shows §3,800 per month, being at the rate of $45,- 
600 per annum for the care of ninety three, big and little, male and female, "free Amer- 
icans of African descent." A thousand dollars per year would astonish a western farmer 
for such a service. But we are refused all information as to this and similar infamous 
abuses. But the time is near when all will be out. Why are these things hidden from 
the people? I think my colleague might have given us some of his observations on this 
head while he was in the South. The consolation for this, the Executive gives us when 
he tells our people that white men can go down and take the places of slaves, if they 
do not like having the slaves coming North to jostle and oust them from their places. 

I, too, like the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Richardson,] am anxious to support the 
Executive in crushing this armed sedition in the South, and will support him whenever 
he is upou the proper path. The elections never meant to withdraw from him the 
conservative support, if he had pursued the policy marked out at the extra session. But 
the people* have condemned the chimerical scheme of compensated emancipation which 
he has again announced, and which my colleague defends — a scheme which the President 
thinks will save the enormous outlays for the war, by abolishing its cause — Slavery. How 
can we apply those simple Mother Goose melodies of the message, that it is not so easy to 
pay something as nothing, or easier to pay a large sum than a larger one — when emanci- 
pation will add to the larger sum, something larger still, by "re-invigorating the 
rebellion?" One important question seems never to have been considered at the White 
House — what if abolition does not end the war? If the fear of abolition was in part the 
cause of the war, will abolition stop it? If there were anything true in tjijjnoti.o, ''like 
cures like" — this might be logic; but, unfortunately, like cause; produce like i .' <-\-. It 
is utterly wild to expect that the South will disband or be recoaeiled or be conquered by 
abolition ; since abolition banded them in arms against us. 

If the President make real the fears which led them to arm against the Government, 
the war will be embittered, prolonged, and made more expensive. Untold million-' will 
be added as well for the idle purpose of turning over to the Treasury, or the Poor House, 
the Africans freed from their masters, as to pay for the slaves when freed. 

But we are told the integrity of the Union will be assured; and the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, [Mr. Stevens,] has introduced resolutions looking to this end. 

The import of his resolutions is confined to the unity and indivisibility of the Union. 
The second and fourth propositions are all included in the first. The second expresses 
the stigma which ought to be fixed on him who would violate the national integrity, 
which is asserted in the first; and the fourth expresses the resolve never to have that in- 
tegrity broken "in two." But, sir, there is carefully omitted all expression against de- 



6 

stroying or impairing our Government as established by the Constitution, with its present 
departments and its present local, State, and Federal relations. Members can vote for 
those resolutions yet be in favor of thoroughly .'hanging these relations. The gentleman 
can defend forever the unity of the United States, its territory and government, yet 
insidiously favor a system of centralized power. A dictatorship has already been 
heralded by him here; and it is not inconsistent with these resolutions. Every inch of 
our domain might remain under our flag, yet that flag might be made the emblem of a 
new and odious political system. The trainers of the Constitution admonished us that 
if we sliouid crush out the States, though the territory might remain, }'et our liberties 
won].! be lost. 

The unity of a parcel of provinces, held by a martial iron grip, or tethered pii 
bounds, is not the unity of the American Constitution. In a unity like that, wim the 
eclifteed, how could you make a Senate, an electoral colleague, or a President? 
Strike out the planets, and you have no system. He is an idiot, who thinks our geogra- 
phy ought to be preserved at the price of our freedom. Do you want to reproduce the 
alliance of Ireland with England; Venetia with Austria? How will you hold it? By 
: mies at enormous cost? How iu case of foreign war, could you preserve such a 
Onion! Even our territories grow restive under Federal rule and clamor to be States 
in their non age. Such a scheme of military satrapies, menacing our northern liberty 
and leading to endless intrigue, it is idle and criminal to contemplate. The people will 
'have none of it. They have thus instructed us in thunder tones, at the recent elections. 
They desire no other form or fact of government than such as the Constitution gives; 
no other dag than that which has all the stars in equal lustre, and no black, interpolated 
between the red, white, andjblue ! 

Doubtless this popular will has reached the gentleman from Pennsylvania. Last ses- 
sion lie began with a bill, which proposed by unconstitutional legislation to change the 
relations of local interests from State to Federal control. Now he preserves, as to that, 
a discreet silence in his resolutions; and only proposes a unity of territory and govern- 
ment. The people demand the territory as it was, the Government as it is. and no 
meddling with the area of the one, or the functions of the other, by' any party, with any 
fore , by any laws, or for any purpose, in the interest of any species of philanthrophy, 
or for the benefit of any race, red, white, or black! \ 

But, sir, I do not complain that the gentleman has omitted in his resolutions, any 
expression as to preserving the rights, equality and dignity of the States under the 
Constitution. Who would believe that such expressions were sincere, after the vote of 
the gentleman on the 21st of July last for a resolution of that kind, offered by the gentle- 
man from Kentucky-, [Mr. Crittenden.] The gentleman from Pennsylvania is no hypocrite. 
The time for pretenses has gone by. The masquerade is over. He will drag no unpleasant 
corpse of memory about with him. Great souls care not for consistency. The Crit- 
tenden resolutions are in the dead past with him. The State suicide doctrine is now 
openly avowed. The Constitutional guaranties to personal liberty 7 and private property 
are set at naught. The purpose so long hinted at and indirectly attempted — to abolish 
slavery by Federal legislation or Executive proclamation, has become the shibboleth of a 
pari; i o d the avowi d object of the war. It would not have done to have avowed this 
purpose at the beginning of the war. As has been said by the Atlantic Monthly, the organ 
of the abolition dilletante in Boston — ''the opposition to the Southern secession, took its 
first form as a rally, b}' all parties to the defence of the Constitution, the maintenance of 
the Union. For any anti-slavery zeal to have attempted to divert the aroused patriotism 
of the land to a breach of one of its fundamentul constitutional provisions would have 
been treacherous and futile. The majority of our enlisted patriotic soldiers would have 
laid down their arms. • If the leadings of Providence shall direct the thickening strife into 
an exterminating crusade against slavery, doubtless our patriots will wait on Providence. 
But we could not have started in our stern wprk, avowing that as an object of our own." 
a for the holy object of national salvation, by the defence of the Consti- 
tution. The effort is now made to end it as a disgraceful crusade against slavery, 
ing the patriotism of the laud and mocking the hopes of mankind. It began for 
the i >blesl purpose, it will end; unless restored by the popular voice, now assuming its 
oldeii tone again, in diabolical and merciless extermination of territory, property, States, 
1 "' nent and Union. 

It. is Dot my purpose now to condemn or discuss the acts of the last session. The 
■ati .: has passed upon them; and there is no need of resolutions or speeches to explain 
their action. If ' lemau thought by introducing his resolutions, that he could 

v lack of national fei ling, any sympathy with this unnatural rebellion, or any 
desire here to have this i ation changed in polity, symmetry, or geography, he was mistaken. 
dent, in his message thought that his argument in favor of the physical union 
of the • states was needed to teach the people true views or new views, he was mistaken. 
The meaning of the late elections is, that no separation of these States can ever be per- 



mitted. The people have registered their oaths at the ballot-boxes, that no infraction of 
the Constitution shall be suffered. They will have unity without the aid of such cow Is. 
They will have their ancient and written charter of Liberties, in spite of all at 
despoil'them. There was no need of sueh resolutions; there was need of other resolu- 
tions, voted down by the other side ; resolutions to stop irresponsible and arbitrary ai 
resolutions against changing the form of our government; resolutio 
and expensive philanthropic experiments, which tend to destroy the moral, relig 
political, and physical substance and unity <>f the nation. 

1 know the impression has been created among the weaker portion of the now weaker 
party, that the late elections ,are somehow an expression in favor of secession, if thi< 
were true, what a message of encouragement it would be to the rebelll 

ite libels upon the people of the North, either cannot have the - ceive 

their erfect, or are regardless of the truth. If it were true, how pitiful would be the 
condition of this nation. The rebels find no such encouragement in these But 

ichmond Examiner of November 21, does find in the " policy of the radical party 
North that which alone could have eradicated the deep rooted sentiment of Union from 
the Southern bosom." It doe-; find " that the radical party have pursued a polic; which 
has consolidated Southern sentiments and united our [their] people as one man in Bupport 
of the war." Such was the belief of the people as to the effect of radicalism ; and hence 
the result in Ohio and the Northwest. At the east let that noble champion, the go* 
elect of New York, speak as to the significance of the election in that State. In his 
speech, before the election at Brooklyn, Horatio Seymour said: 4 

" Now, when the men of the South made the hayonet and the sword the arbiter (they elected, and not 
we; when they determined to settle it by blood and (not we) - the sword, so far as the present Is con- 
cerned, must be the arbiter; and in our strong ri;ln arms it shall Strike vigorous and true blows fur the 
life of our eountry, for its institutions, and for its flag. Now let me say this to the higher law men of the 
i ud to the higher law men ol the South, and to the whole world that looks on as witnesses to the 
migldy events transpiring in this country, that this Union shall never be severed ; no, never. Whatet i r 
Other men may say, as for the conservative people of this country and as lor myself as an individual— let 
other men say and think what they please — as for the division of this Union, an<t the brl aking up of that 
great natural alliance which is made by nature and by nature's God, I never will consent to it, lie. never, 
as long as I have a voice to raise or a hand to fight for this our glorious laud.'' 

The Executive message as to the indivisibility of the United States and the 1 
of the gentleman, are but the feeble echo of this stalwart cry of the people: " That this 
Union shall never be severed — no — never. The natural alliance made by nature and 
s God, shall never be broken — never! " It was because the people feared this, 
that they have hurled so many of you from your seats here. The epitaph upon this 
hich '.villi a glad prophetic grace I had the honor to pencil for you 
1 rs at, the last session, will be carved in that enduring marble which will be at 
once the s^rave of sedition and the monument of loyalty ! 

It has been asserted that the people have condemned this administration because there 
vigorous prosecution of the war. The dismissal of Gen. Me'. 
1 b.eanse, as it was alleged, he had not dash or movement enough to satisfy the 
electors of the country. Facts, in'letters and despatches which are yet to transpire, will 
show : 1st. That this is a mere pretext; and, 2d. that there were other reasons for the 
dismissal. My distinguished and sagacious friend from Illinois, [Mr. Richardson,] i: 
that the real reason for that dismissal was, that McClellan did not agree with I 
pation and oilier radical schemes of the cabinet. I assert here as a fact, which I do 
know, and which confirms the inferences of my friend, that the President was, about the 
middle of .Inly, informed distinctly of the mode by which, and the principles upon which 
Gen. McClellan intended the war to be conducted and the Union saved. He was advised 
that McClellan disapproved of any infraction of the laws of civilized and Chiislion war- 
fare ; that he disapproved of arbitrary arrests in places where the insurrection did not 
prevail; that he did not contemplate any seizure of private property for the support of 
the army, or for punishing and desolating the region invaded; but that he earnestly 
pleaded that the war should be carried ou as a duel between orgauized armies, and not 
against non-combatants; that the institutions of the States should be protected; th 
proclamation of freedom, incensing a servile race to indiscriminate massacre of heirless 
whites, and inviting the destruction of unoffending blacks, should be permitted; in line, 
that wherever it was possible, the military should be subordinate to the civil authority, 
and the Constitution alone should be the guide and glory of heroic sacrifice I 

This ;>!an did not suit radicalism. It was not obnoxious to the. President in the sum- 
mer ; but, somehow, it became so in the fall; and hence the General of tl. 
suddenly became unskilled in the art of war. His science in creating and inspirit 
arm}- after Pull Run was forgotten. His grand movement and splendid Bghting : 
Richmond were ignored. His attempt to take Richmond was belittled, : 
plead, as it were for the life of the nation, for reinforcements, without which he made no 



8 

promise and had no hope of success. His superb battles in Maryland; his salvation of 
Washington from the blunders of Pope, or those over him, were conveniently slighted. 
It was pretended that he did not move fast enough after the battle of Antietam ; that he 
was abundantly supplied, but failed to pursue the defeated enemy. Time will show who 
are to blame for failing to supply the army at that critical time. Such pretexts will 
hardly stand before the official records which will be published. At the time when Mc- 
Clellan was dismissed, he was moving his immense army more than ten miles a day. 
His cavalry was driving the enemy before them, and his infantry and artillery were 
pushing them back from the frowning gaps of the Blue Ridge. His movements were as 
fast as prudence, in such a situation, warranted. 

No, sir, this removal of the general, whose genuine patriotism and skilful genius had 
inspired the army with enthusiasm, was a sacrifice to appease the Ebony Fetich. But 
he was displaced for Burnside, true; and he told his army to stand by Burnside as they 
Lad by him. And the noble Burnside had told us that McClellan was " an honest, chris- 
tian like, and conscientious man, with the soundest head and clearest military perception 
of any man in the United States." Fatal words! They have in them the ultimate fate 
of Burnside. Let us pray for his success fervently, as he, no doubt, has prayed for the 
presence of McClellan, during the past eventful week. But let us watch as we pray ; for 
he too will be brought to the stone of jasper, another sacrifice to the Mumbo Jumbo of 
abolition. 

What have we gained by McClellan's removal ? Celerity of movement ? A better base 
of operations? Nearness to Richmond? Supplies by water, and a point d'appui for gun 
boats? Or, suppose we conquer at Fredericksburg, will not our army at last be com- 
pelled to return to James River, as the only base from which operations can succeed 
against Richmond, that point from which McClellan was dragged, despite his cry of 
despair, which seemed almost to forebode the destruction of the Republic? 

In the vicissitudes of this war the Administration will be compelled to resort to 
McClellan's plans and the conservative policy. Unless this be done the war will fail, 
-and a disadvantageous peace will result, for almost any peace will be hailed as better 
than the war as it is now attempted to be conducted. The war must be carried on under, 
and not over the Constitution. When that course is resumed, the patriotic North will 
respond as it has before responded. The conservative members of the next Congress will 
demand such a return. The President will find that there will be representatives here 
who mean to save their institutions and rebuild the Union. 

This parrot cry that these elections indicate a sympathy with the Southern rebellion 
has been iterated for party purposes at home. It was not manufactured for foreign 
consumption. It did harm abroad. Well might Mr. Seward, with more truth than is 
usual to diplomatic finesse, write a chapter to counteract the bad effect of such false- 
hoods. On the 10th of November last, he advised Mr. Adams at London : 

" That while there may be men of doubtful political wisdom and virtue in each party, and while 
there may be differences of opinion between the two parties as to the measures best calculated to pre- 
serve the Union and restore its authoriiy, yet it is not to be inferred that either party, or any consider? 
able portion of the people of the loyal States, is disposed to accept disunion under any circumstances, or 
upon any terms. It is rather to be understood that the people have become so confident of the stability of 
tie Union that partisan combinations ;ire resuming their sway here, as they do in such cases in all free 
countries. In this country, especially, it is a habit not only entirely consistent with the Constitution, 
l.i ut even essential to its stability, to regard the Administration at anytime existing as distinct and 
separable from the Government itself, and to canvass the proceedings ol the one without the thought 
of disloyalty in the other." 

Who is there on the opposite side who dare echo the sincere tribute of Mr. Seward to 
the loyal Democracy? Who of you has had the generosity to distinguish between sus- 
taining the GovernnTent and criticizing the Administration? Who among you does the 
, stary reefcon of "doubtful political wisdom and virtue?" Certainly it is him who 
would counsel a war against slavery; for he said to Mr. Adams, on the 17th of February, 
! 62, in speaking of the crusade against slavery : 

" To proclaim the crusade is unnecessary, and it would even be inexpedient, because it would deprive 
us <>i the needful and legitimate support of the friends of the Union who are opposed to slavery, but 
who prefer Ulnon without, slavery to disunion with slavery. 

I). :s France or does Gfreat Britian want to see a social revolution here, with all its horrors, like the 
slave revolution in rft Domingo? Are these powers sure that the country or the world is ripe for such 
a revolution, so that it must certainly be successful ? What, if inaugurating such a revolution, slavery, 
protesting against Its ferocity and inhumanity, should prove the victor? 

Again, on the 5th of July, 1862, he says : 

"II ins a- if the extreme advocates of African slavery and its most vehement opponents were acting 

ert together to precipitate a servile war — the former by making the most desperate attempts to 
■ •■.■, the Fe.hnil Union, the latter bj demanding an edict of universal emancipation as a Jawful 
and necessary, ifnot, as they say, the only legitimate way of saving the Union." 



He accuses, therefore, every one who would pervert the war from its primitive and 
loyal purpose into an anti slavery crusade, as depriving the country of its loyal friends. 
He accuses all such of aiding to bring on a social revolution, like that of St. Domingo, 
involving all its ferocity and inhumanity. If this indictment be true who will escape 
condemnation? The vote the other day to sustain the proclamation will show. When 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania was framing his crimination against those who would 
propose peace on the basis of separation, which inoulp.ii. - no one on this side, did he 
know whereof lie was accused by the Premier of the Administration? The people have 
tried and condemned all such as are thus accused. But while those who are approved 
by them, never will " accept disunion under anj T circumstances or upon any terms;" still 
it is nevertheless true that these elections do indicate a profound unrest among the 
08 to the continuance of this war, on the line of policy now about to be pursued, 
lo indicate that in the popular mind there is a hope yet alive, and efforts yet to 
!>•• tried, perhaps not opportune just now, to adjust the causes of strife and bridge over 
this abyss, below which is surging the torrent of blood. They do approve of the 
dent'a remark that, after all our lighting, we must at last make some accommoda- 
tion. The London Times says truly that "in the result of these elections we think we 
6ee a hope that the word ' compromise ' will soon come into general use on the other 
side of the Atlantic." The President himself seems, in an oblique way, to have taken 
the hint, and in his late message writes out in plain hand, this once-honored word 
— Compromise. 

But how shall we begin the work of compromise? What is honorable and just, under 
present circumstances? Js it true, as is alleged, that the Southern States, under certain 
circumstances, are willing to return to the Union.? Is it true that the President is thus 
advised? I know not, but if so, what sacrifices can be made to restore the Union? Or, 
indeed, ought any talk of compromise to be held, while the guns of the rebellion thunder 
along the Rappahannock, or our navies meet with resistance down the Mississippi? Shall 
we wait the results of the present movements'? Shall we then, in case of failure, wait still 
another year? Shall we talk of compromise before our debt reaches the estimate of Mi'. 
Chase, on the 1st of June next, and towers up to .$1,122,297,403 24? Or shall we wait till 
the year after, when it shall still mount up to $1,744,595,590 80? Or still more nearly, 
on the next year's day, when the Commander-in-Chief shall have declared all persons 
held as slaves in any State or designated part of a State then in rebellion, to be then, 
thenceforward, and forever free? If that grand panacea fail — shall we still wait until 
another million shall be added to our army; another hundred thousand to our hospitals? 
Another hundred thousand fresh made graves upon our soil? Another three hundred 
millions of loss, by destruction of public enterprises, private property, and by the whole- 
sale derangement of the social, business, and labor systems of the land? Or will com- 
promise lie more acceptable, North and South, if possible at all, when another half- 
million of slaves are freed by the friction and abrasion of the war? Or will it be when 
slave labor is enfranchised and' exported to regions where it will never add a dollar to 
the national treasury, or to the general wealth? Or when the four million slaves being 
freed by war, legislation, confiscation, or proclamation — which my colleague, [Mr. 
ETire,] thinks may cause some slight inconvenience, shall seek the North star, and by 
an exodus, already great and increasing shall disturb the relations of labor in the free 
Si tates.until a new irrepressible conflict shall arise between white and black labor? Or 
shall the war go on, without effort at compromise, with no other attempt at arbitrament 
except the sword, until extermination results? Will you compromise with desolation 
and call it peace? Will you glory in the unity and indivisibility of a territory, denuded 
by the besom of war? When — who:, — Representatives, is peace honorable, and compro- 
mise just! Are these "forces" to "endure" so long as there is a cotton and rice field in 
Carolina, or a sugar plantation in Louisiana unseat] ■• i by war or unsettled by free labor? 
If the day of compromise be postponed till then, may not the Federal sceptre be a 
barren one in your gripe? Or may not other schemes of union, economic, political, and 
raphical and other ruinous projects of secession still further distract our country 5 
These problems may well be considered by the loyal and patriotic. Let us be wise in 
time) before worse evils overtake and overwhelm us. 

I am one of those who still cling to the hope of Union. I believe that in time the 
very interests of slavery will work for it. As slavery has been in most danger from 
secession and war, its safety will be found alone in the regenerated constitutionalism 
which is arising from the wreck and crush of war. Slavery has lost in the war. its 
political influence; its existence has been endangered by the wear and tear of conflict. 
(Jut of this nettle danger, Southern slave owners will pluck the flower "Safety." I 
care not if slavery be the reason for their return to their allegiance ; if they return, the 
Union will become again militant. Slavery, instead of being the cause of rebellion, will 
become the cause of its overthrow. Economic laws are stronger than military satraps 
and forces. These laws will determine the South to return, when assured that the Con- 



10 

stitution will be preserved. Fanatics may dream away of their jubilees of black freedom ; 
Secessionists may fight for their theories of state remedies for federal encroachments; 
war may bring its vicissitudes and sacrifices; but after all, the wise ordination of our 
ancestors and of Providence, under the Constitution, -will drive even slavery back into 
the Union, for its own safety, or for the means, under State regulation, for its own vol- 
untary abolition. To enthusiasts, this may seem a hateful paradox; but if it be true 
thai the ascendancy of abolition, clouded the hope of the Union, is it not as true that 
ifeat the abolitionists will restore that hope? At the beginning of the war, there 
were but few secessionists per se. It was the fear that the Northern States were hope- 
abolitionized, that overcame the loyalty of the majority South, and united them 
I us. Tue very excesses of power in this Congress, its attempt to pervert the Avar, 
i us on personal freedom and Constitutional right have extinguished the fire of 
radicalism and relit the old beacon which led us onward in unity and to prosperity ! The 
result of the elections will assist to restore the Union. The reaction iu the South will 
soon begin. The elements of discontent North which have helped to rescue power from 
arrogant and imbecile men, will work with more force in the South. Cotton has lost 
hi- sceptre. His throne is in ashes. Privateering, so truculently blazoned by Slidell, 
in the Senate, as the avenger of Southern wrongs, lias proved itself but a toothless harpy. 
Foreign intervention will never be allowed North or South. The currency, trade and 
established order South, all deranged, are powerful levers, now prying the loosened 
stones into their old places. For such a work, there is a fulcrum deep in the heart of the 
people, which neither radicalism nor secession can wholly disturb! The very failures of 
both armies to make decisive victories, notwithstanding the extraordinary vigor, and 
splendid heroism of our soldiers in the.field, and the fabulous expenditure of money and 
men, will assist the consummation of our hopes. We have expended, in two years, men 
and money enough, had we been united, to have added a dozen Indias to our conquering 
chariot. Money enough has been filched by corrupt contractors — treasures enough have 
been wasted on political favorites to have belted the globe with our flag, and added the 
rest of the Continent to our empire ; but all has been as yet in vain ; for there stood and 
yet stands between the people and their hope this blighting black (lemon of radicalism, 
unwise beyond all that is written in history, and powerless for everything except mischief 
and malevolence. Against its Satanic "pressure" brought to bear upon the President, 
by the mad cabal of zealots, the people have protested. 

You may discard their warning in mockery; you may, in spite, remove the generals 
they endorse and love; you may persevere in your radical and destructive work ; you 
may for a few weeks more, press your doctrine that the States are in rebellion, and 
therefore have committed felo de se, and are to be stricken from the roll of the Union ; 
you may strive to legislate down the Constitution ; but your days are numbered! I see 
the death sweat on your brow ! In these resolutions, in the indemnity bill passed the 
other da}r, and in the crazed speculations of my colleague, which still linger from the 
past session and in the bill of the member from Pennsylvania for a hundred thousand black 
soldiers, I hear the death-rattle in your throats. You will pass away ; and you will only 
be remembered to point a political moral, and to. teach, as Robespierre and his radical 
times teach us, thatauarcus and destructives have their uses in the political world, as the 
hurricane and pestilence in the physical world. The very attempt to foil the popular 
will, you are now making, will make your condemnation more terrible. There is some- 
thing insurrectionary, says Arnold, the historian, in the attempt to restrain the p 
wilL Had you and the Executive bowed to the-popular verdict, as iu England, under a 
less liberal system, the rulers ever do, posterity might have .embalmed you to a little 
immortality for that act of grace. But no ! this thunder tone of dissatisfaction with your 
conduct, is seized upon and avowed by some here in my presence, as the very reason why, 
now, in the brief time of your power, you should enact further mischief. 

You had, and would yet have the whole conservative force in a war to overthrow the 
organization of the Southern Confederacy. You were not content with that. We were 
united on that, but you were determined to divide the North. By culpable and treach- 
erous divergence from the plain path marked out by the Crittenden resolution, you are 
determined to make this a war against populations, against civilized usage, to overthrow 
State institutions and blot out State boundaries, and by defiance of the organic law, to 
defeat the cause of the nation, by making the old Union impossible. 

But mark! you will not succeed. The army itself will never consent to degrade 
itself by becoming superior to the civil power. You cannot use it to break through the 
sacred barriers which protect the Constitution. Nor will the people ever consent to give to 
proclamations the force of law ; for even in England that has been held to be a surrender 
of the liberty of the nation to usurpation. The people are-informed of those traditional 
privileges which were secured by their ancesters. Beginning even before Magna Charta, 
written in the "Apologies," and Bills of Right of the Anglo Saxon race, enacted thirty- 
two times from Runneymede until the Declaration of Right in 1688, they are yet pre- 



11 

served in the fundamental law of this country. At the recent election the people ai ' 
Wenl vi rtl one* questioned a certain dis] r in England: "wn re be 

unci! that can make, add to, or diminish from the laws of this realm?" 11 ey ask 
now in this our Bouse of Commons, as they will ask more proudly in th< 
the spi hich resisted Bbip money, the di pending power of the 8tuar 

ry imprisonment, and which demi 1 upon accusation and by a jury when- 

was seized by the sovereign. They know th 
i rights of personal security, without which all otl 
This is a part of the m< as; and whether in y< 

it or not, th apoiJ the tin-one again, and •■. 

still swell: 
ked: " Do you want th< war to stop in order to divid The 

people have. answered as Seymour answered as I answi ryou here: ' they want 

the war carried on, as all civilized wars are carried on, and with a view to ; union, 

ami not with a view to the jf ' and prolongation of hostilities. I attirm on the best 

human and divine authority, that all objects of human effort, even war, should contribute 
to human happiness and peace. If this war have any other object, then it is abhorred of 
nd every dollar and life sacrificed would be criminal waste. 
A i ! uns\. .-nd that this war is an exception to other wars? If so, why? Because it 
was begun in rebellion ? LetVatstel, in his xviii chapter, of his III book, answer! His answer 
meets the very case. He stands above our stormful passions and gives the law of wisdom 
for our guidance. In that chapter he maintains these propositions: 

1st. That .a soverign is bound to observe the common laws of war towards his rebel- 
lious subjects who have openly taken up arms against him. He derives this rul 
the relations the sovereign bears towards his subjects. Having derived his light to rule 
from them, he is to watch over their welfare. But what if his subjects take up arms to 
to deprive bim of the supreme authority? Then, if the evil spreads so as to infect the 
majority of the people of a city or province, and gains such strength that even the 
sovereign is no longer obeyed, it becomes nn insurrection. His conduct towards the in- 
surgents should be consonant to justice and salutary to the State. Vattel declares that sub- 
jects who rise against the sovereign deserve severe punishment, yet even in this case, on 
account of the number of the delinquents, he holds that clemency becomes a duty in the 
sovereign. Shall he depopulate a city, or desolate a province in order to punish her re- 
bellion! An}- punishment, however just iu itself, which embraces too great a number of 
as, becomes au act of downright cruelty. He illustrates these doctrines by reiVring 
to Henrj th Great of France, who gained a nation by his clemency, and to the Duke of 
Aha, who lost the United Provinces to the Emperor of Spain by his cruelty. The time 
will come for the {'resident to exhibit the magnanimity of the one or the inhumanity of 
the other. 

: ;i; I beg the House to listen to the wisdom of this great publicist, who holds, as 
he would dfeubtless have held with us of the last Congress who attempted by sea- 
o avert this war, " That the safest, and at the same time the most just, i 
of appeasing sedition is to give the people satisfaction. And if there exists no reason to 
■ection, (a circumstance which perhaps rarely happens,) even in 
necessary to grant an amnesty where the offenders are numerous " But, 
as if thi i was before his mind, he selects the case of a republic, divided into two 

rts, and where both parts are inarms. This he calls a civil war, "The 
sovereign," In; says, " never fails to call those in insurrection rebels; hut when the rebels 
have ai niticient strength to give the sovereign effectual opposition and to oblige 

him to carry on the war against them according to the established rules, he must submit, 
- irily, to the term civil war. In this case there is no common judge between tie 
two parties. They are thenceforward two separate bodies, two distinct societies. Though 
one of the parties may'have been to blame in breaking the" unity of the State and resist- 
ing the lawful authority, they are not the less divided in fact. But who shall judge 
them? On earth they have no common superior. They stand, therefore, in precisely 
the same predicament as two nations, who engage in a contest." 

2d. This being the case, the common laws of war, the maxims of humanity, moderation, 
and honor are to be ob r For a stronger reason, he say-s, ought such laws to be 

i incensed parties, lacerating their common country. Indeed, the very 
instan attel gives, of the sov< his prisoners as rebels, has already 

occurred with us in Missouri, and we are threatened, as he anticipates, with reprisals and 
.lion, which we have no power to resist. But for these laws, the war would thus 
become every day more cruel, horrible, and destructive. What then is the conclusion at 
which he arrives? 



12 

3d. Whenever a numerous body of men think they have a right to' resist the sovereign 
and feel themselves in a condition to appeal to the sword, there ought to be left open 
the same means as between two nations for preventing the war being carried to out- 
rageous extremities, and for the restoration of Peace. 

If these maxims of the great jurist, be the voice of reason, conscience, and the civilized 
world, this Government is under the necessity to practice moderation, justice, and clem- 
ency, toward the insurgency. We have no right, as Mr. Seward thought in February, 
to inaugurate any system of emancipation which will lead to the atrocities and inhuman- 
ities of slave insurrection. Such a course as Mr. Seward held, will only, " reiuvigorate 
the rebellion." In such 'ar contest, there is not an attribute of the Almighty which can 
take Bides with us. As well fire the hospitals of the sick, and the libraries of the learned; 
as well pillage the homes of the widow and the heritage of the orphan; as well refuse 
the flag of truce or the exchange of prisoners; as well fire upon the former and hang the 
latter; as well poison the weapons of war or the wells of wa'ter; as well refuse the offi- 
ces appointed by necessity to soften the rough usages of war, as to inspire or set on foot 
a system leading to servile massacre. Nay, by the same reason, that we would leave off 
these horrible means which intensify sectional hate, and reinvigorate rebellion, we must 
leave open the same means which two nations at war ever have, for the restoration of 
peace. 

Mr. CONWAY. I would like, just here, to ask a question of the gentleman from Ohio. 

Mr. COX. In one moment, sir, I will be glad to answer you. 

Now I inquire first, into the reason of these maxims; secondly, into the means 
which are open to belligerent nations; and what, if any means are open to this nation, 
for the restoration of peace. 

First. The maxims quoted spring from the desirableness of ending hostilities. As in 
war, no one can enjoy quietly his rights, in peace he has that privilege; and if controver- 
ted — he can rationally discuss them with a view to the remedy. Peace is the natural 
and best state of man. All agree to that. Under its protection, and through its ameni- 
ties, that intercourse is secured which is most beneficial, economically and socially, and 
which tends to the highest advancement of man. Passion produces war ; reason keeps and 
restores peace. It is the bounden duty of the government to seek peace with the people. 
The beatitudes are promised to the peace-maker. God smiles on him, and gives him a 
double blessedness in this life and in the life to come. Poets may sing the glories of 
heroic achievement. 

"But like a bell with solemn sweet vibrations 
I hear the voice gf Christ say — Peace." 

If it were now possible, that the French Emperor, without entrenching upon our pre- 
rogative as a proud and independent State, could succeed in restoring, by his friendly 
mediation, the government and the Union as it was ten years ago, when his coup d' elat, 
seemed to destroy the hopes of Republican France, and to become the peace-maker, and 
" Union saver" of this distracted land, the beauty of the act would whiten his whole 
life, and even make mankind forget the fatal 2d of December, 1852. He would deserve 
the eulogy of the great writer to whom I have referred; and become greater at that 
moment than in the midst of his most splendid conquests in the Crimea and in Italy, 
which he is about to illustrate in bronze upon a new Arch of Triumph in his capital! So 
desirable is the return of peace ; so divine the office of peace-maker, that mankind will 
join with Vattel in picturing Augustus, shutting the temple of Janus, and giving peace 
i" the I i iverse, and adjusting the disputes of kings and nations — as the greatest of mor- . 
tals, and as it were, a God upon earth ! 

Second. What are the means left open to belligerents by the laws of civil war ? I do 

ak now of a condition of things not yet apparent, in this country, when one of 

i ilueed by war to sue for peace ; or, where both are wearj- of the war, 

and thoughts of accommodation are entertained, and peace steps in and puts a period to 

the war. 1 assume now a condition of things in which, upon our part, (as we voted 

lay o6r resources an: greater than ever, and our spirit is yet unflagging ; 

ami, on the oiher part, that the resources of the rebellion are yet for a time BufiScient to 

and withstand the Federal authority in a large part of the immense area to be 

rescued from the rebellion. I speak now of a condition, in which an arniei] force of over 

700,000 men are upon our side and -100,000 on the other; the one having the advantage 



13 

of resources, and the other the advantage of being near their own homes; an J when the 
spirit of each is but little less than it was one year ago. I speak also upon the hope 
and hypothesis that the influence of the late elections will greatly abate the appn ben- 
sions and mitigate the aversion of the maes of the Southern people airiiinst the North ; 
and that a less revengeful Bpirit, developed in these elections, prevails art the North. 
Thus circumstanced, and even while we omit no martial or naval exertion on behalf of 
the Government, where is the initiative fur peace! I assume that it is not necessary that 
the war should stop to prepare for peace. The late war went on with Great Britain and 
battles were fought even while our commissioners were at Ghent, and after peace was 
celebrated. An armistic is not an indispensable preliminary to negotiation. In the pro- 
positions which I submitted more than one year ago to this House, I proposed to in 
the armament of army and navy, even- while 1 would have sent commissioners from the 
loyal Slates to the disloyal; not to recognize or treat with the Confederate govern- 
ment, but to meet commissioners from the- States South, which are still and < ver a legal 
and indestructible entity, and with whom alone we could then have conferred. Neithei 
is it indispensable to the beginning of negotiations, that the executives at Washington 
and Richmond should confer. 

Although publicists have held that the same power which has the light to make 
war and direct its operations, has naturally that likewise of a concluding peace ; yet by 
our system of government, it would be impossible for our Executive, notwithstanding the 
maxim I have quoted, to begin nogotiations or conclude them, by treating with the Con- 
federate government at Richmond- Neither has the President of the United States any 
power to declare war, or conclude peace. He could not, if he would ; he dare not if he 
could, make a treaty of peace, which would alienate an acre of our territory or release 
State or a citizen from the obligation due to the Federal Government. However disadvan- 
tageous war may be, yet there is no authority to conclude a peace, except in pur- 
suance of the Constitution. It has been held that a sovereign, when the State is reduced 
to any calamitous exigency, may determine by what sacrifices he will purchase peace; 
but in this countr}-, where the written Constitution is the guide of duty, there can be 
no exigency which would authorize a breach of that fundamental law, upon which re- 
pose all our interests. Better, had the President suffer the tortures of Regulus, than 
usurp a power to make a peace, not in accordance with the Constitution and the in- 
tegrity and indivisibility of the Republic. From no quarter and by no election, has there 
been any expression, which looks to a peace basted on the separation of this country into 
two nations. No mediation or intervention from any foreign power, based upon such a 
suggestion, would be tolorated for a moment. If Europe intervened for such a purpose 
the war would become continental. Any mediation or intervention would be spurned, 
which would obstruct the relation of the Union — either by embarrassing our arms or our 
negotiations. 

But, are we to be shut off in the future from all hope of stopping the effusion of blood? 
If the South would be content with the Constitution faithfully administered, as they 
have shown by adopting it as the basis of their own establishment ; and if they only are 
aggrieved by alleged and apprehended infractions of it, to the detriment of their local 
systems — why may we not hereafter come together, upon that Constitution as the basis 
of an amicable adjustment, and by such an amendment of it, made in pursuance 'f its 
own provisions, as will assure t> the South perfect immunity from unjust, intermeddling 
with their local rights, reestablish the Government, while we reintegrate its territo- 
ry? The difficulty is in making the advance to an accommodation, as such an advance 
would be imputed to weakness. Moreover, the war may be persisted in from ambition, 
pride, and animosity; or, from a desire to exterminate slavery; and these may be obsta- 
cles to be surmounted. If such be our conditio;!, then we have this rule laid down for 
us by Vattel, that "on such occasions, some common friends of the parties should effectu- 
ally interpose by offering themselves as mediators. It is the office of beneficence ; and 
it is held to bo the indispensable duly of those who have the means of perfoi bring it with 
success." Such a mediation derogates nothing from that Constitution ab intra — that per- 
fect autonomy of the State, which is by all public law and by the divine order, guaran- 
tied to eveiy independent nation. 

This brings me to the third resolution of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, denouncing 
all mediation and intervention irom abroad, Tho Monroe doctrine never had a stronger 
reason than now for its enforcement. Intervention in our affairs can never be allowed. 
It is a vague term, and has had a variety of interpretations by the selfish and ambitions 
powers of Europe, struggling to fix the balance of power. Its opposite is the established i 
principle of the law of nations. Non intervention is drawn from the essential sover- 
eignty of ever}- nation, %reat and small. Intervention is the exception, and is only jus- 
tified as an extreme measure — 1st, when it is demanded by self-preservation ; and, 2d, 
when some extraordinary state of things is brought about by the crime of the Govern- 
ment. — (Woolsey's International Law, p. 91.) History is full of illustrations, running 



14 

from ancient Greece to modern Italy, of these doctrines. But neither of these rules can 
be appli <1 by Europe to this country. There can never be any application of them to 
this Government, which is not in violation of our sovereign rights upon this continent; 
and which, if we had the power, we would not resist by our arms. Intervention comes 
i It takes sides. It has ambitious designs. It is against our interest, tradition, 
history and feeling. BuP mediation is ostensibly friendly and inoffensive. We should 
against the most silken inveiglement by France or any European power; but there 
i.- oothing apparent in the note of Hrouyu de L'lluys tendering a mediation, which indi- 
cates any ambitious or unkind intermeddling. 

In the note of the Minister of October 30, there is nothing which looks like a media- 
tion for a peace at the expense of the Union. Any "pressure" upon us 13 expressly re- 
pudiated; and the mediation is only tendered to smooth obstacles, in case of a wish, on 
our part, for such mediation. In the text of Drouyn de L'Huy's note, the Emperor bases 
his overture on the painful interest^with which Europe has regarded ourgreatealamity and 
prodigious effusion of blood. This interest may be quickened by the idle looms of Lyons 
and the lessened market for French wines. The mission proposed is one which, as France 
feels and slates, international law assigns to neutrals. It is only intended to "encourage 
public opinion to views of conciliation." In this tender, a'serupulous delicacy is observed 
againsl offending our national susceptibility against intervention. The constant tradition 
of French policy toward this country is appealed to with apparent sincerity. 

We cannot be insensible to such advances. • But a specter stands in the way to scare 
us from its consideration — France in Mexico! Sixty thousand Chasseurs de Vineennes, 
Yoltigeurs de la garde, and Chasseurs d'Afrique! What are they doing there? Has a 
Bonaparte, — the author of the coup d'etat, — the Emperor of that nation, which fought 
in the Crimea and Italy, become scrupulous of shedding blood ? If so, why do his legions 
throng toward the capital of Mexico to "regulate" a hostile people? Can humanity in- 
spiri this project of mediation in our affairs? 

I prefer to think, knowing the difference between Mexico and this country, that .his 
policy in Mexico is not intended to be hostile to us, as against the South ; for nothing can 
be more unfavorable to the dream? of Davis and his confederates than the establishment 
of a European dynasty on their border. Besides, France has ever been our ally. For 
great reasons of State and, as an essential element of the equilibrium of the world, she 
helped us to establish Independence. Her blood mingled with ours to acquire it. Lou- 
isiana came from her hand to enlarge our domain. No interest in silk, wines and cotton, 
no design in Mesjfeo, ought to enter into her' plans of mediation. Besides, if she medi- 
tate.', by mediation, the Union of these States, she may quadruple her Chasseurs in Mex- 
ico and her ensign may float from every castle in that ill starred land; but our Union, if 
restored, would exert its first energy in re-establishing the continental policy of Monroe, 
and all her plans in Mexico would fail. Therefore, from the text of the French note, and 
its explanation since by the Secretary of the French Minister, and being confirmed in the 
belief that, under the " armistice, France would have lent her aid to a restoration of the 
Union" — I do not augur any present armed intervention or sinister motives in her tender 
of mediation. Still the best foresight may fail in sounding the designs of the wonderful 
man who now occupies St. Cloud. Our safety from all intervention lies — not merely in 
pur iron clad navy; not in our voluminous diplomacy — but in the determination of the 
people to throw off this load of rebellion. If the capacity of our rulers, in the conduct 
ot our affairs, was shown to be equal to the task of regaining the Federal supremacy at 
home, we should not be menaced by European patronage and meddling. If we are 
divide. 1 by radical counsels, and, if we incite the servile race to atrocious insurrections, our 
revenues will be wasted, our Government broken and England will laugh at our calam- 
ities, and Europe will intervene for our everlasting degradation. 

The friendly offices of France may, after our arms shall have had more decisive success 
and our < [ectioi a have permeated the Southern mind, with a kindlier feeling, be of great 
use, in forwarding the only true object of the war, which is peace and Union. 

It is ai! insult to History, to expect that war alone will unite us. Force may subdue 
the rebellion ; but othi r means must reconcile the people North and South. Interchange 
of commodities and mutual courtesies', will not do it; for separate nations, like France 
and England, have these and yet would forever remain distinct and hostile. Con- 
sanguinity alone will not do it. Marry races, as the Gauls, Romans, Frank's and Burgun- 
djans constitute France, and have become nationalized into one, without the ties of 
iiage alone will not doit; for Great Britain is one, though the people 
sing with Llewellyn in Welsh, and Burns in Scotch, and Shakespeare in English. The 
unity of a State by the principle of nationality, results from the^unforced and spontaneous 
union of inclinations among a people. "And Hamor and Shecham his son, communed 
with the men of the city, saying: These men are peaceable with us, therefore, let them 
dwell ii the land and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; 



15 

let us take their daughters to us for wives, ami let us give them our daughters; only 
herein will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to be one people," 

A movement looking to this consenting ore the Union. The 

Eagle liiu-t use the Dove. The Sword must, he garlanded with the olive. The baj 
alon s, said Mirabesu, will only establish of Terror — the silence of D 

i i'. i hot hclicve that France means hostility to us in tier tender of mediation. From 
!• ••. ation I believe that she is now, as sin- was in the days of Rochambeau and La- 
lesiroas 6f seeing our Union perfected. She loves England little. Waterloois 
net a myth, nor has Time bleached out its red memories. Our growing naval power is 
not p i asing to England; but it is not obnoxious to France; which has ever been jealous 
and fearful of English supremacy on the sea. England refusesto join in the tenderofn 
ation for the very reason that she wii ked at the "Alabama" when slie cleared the Me 
and now permits a thousand hammers to rivet the iron mail upon a score of Confe I 
steamers. England, whose philanthrophy is in a cotton pod, refused the tender of 

■ she does not care to see this Democratic Republic as a standing menace to aris- 
tocracy, and ever rivalling her upon the ocean. England does nol wish to mediate, for 
she fears that if united we might be less tolerant of h.er bravado. She now smiles with 
satisfaction dver the transfer of commerce from American to English bottoms, owing to 
the increase of marine insurance, created by her own breaches of neutrality. Franc i 
with England have some selfish reasons for wishing us at peace. But France prefers that 
•we should have peace and the Union; England prefers peace and a separation. The one 
is a friend, the other an enemy. 

'In one way' and in one way only, could meditation be effective, by bringing together 
commissioners North and South, not to arrange treaty of peace, not to agree upon : • om- 
promise ; but to inaugurate in the States — in the States which are constituent elenientsof 
our Confederation, the original fountain of power from which the Constitution derived its 
vitality — a movement looking to a national convention, Where in conformity with th< 
qniremenl - of our Constitution, there could be found our common judge on earth, the sov- 
ereign people of the again I nited States! I'do not now undertake to say in detail, what 
such a Convention ought to do. It ought to compose all our troubles in the spirit of amity; 
and, unless we ha\ e degenerated beyond-all former generations, it ought to ev< rit. 

of 1787, and weave and plait anew, that bond of Union, strong as the mighty inter. 
this n;'* ion, which are to he imbound.by it forever. In such a convention of States, rigid 

might not be meted out to either party. Neither party would be cond 
KimVliating sacrifices, inconsistent with the future dignity ami equality of tl 
All losses could not be reimbursed ; for who could call again to life the thousands slain 
in the unhappy strife? 

But, in the spirit of Christian brotherhood, all might be arranged, the Union be started 
again upon a career of progress under the old flag and with a new hopej am: i- 
shouts of a free and peaceful people and all the States, side by side, like the 
of Olympus, commune kindly through all the' ages of history — 

" Self reverent each, and reverencing each, 
Distinct in individuality, 

Hut like each other, even as those who love." 

L. Towers &, Co., Printers, cor. Sixth street aud Louisiana Avenue, Washington City. 




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